As one example of imaging methods sing a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus, an imaging method such as an echo planar imaging (EPI) method has been conventionally known in which data is acquired with readout gradient magnetic fields of opposite polarities alternately applied. In such an imaging method, an artifact may occur in an image as a result of phase differences among acquired echo signals.
Exemplary methods for preventing such an artifact include a method by which images are corrected with data acquisition for phase correction performed separately from data acquisition for images. In this method, for example, a phase correction map is generated based on phase differences among echo signals acquired in data acquisition for the correction purpose. Images are corrected based on the phase correction map.